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Tuesday, December 29, 2015

AG staff questions authority for Kane's special prosecutor

There are concerns within the Office of Attorney General over the legality of state Attorney General Kathleen Kane's recently announced investigation of OAG emails by an out-of-state special prosecutor, sources have told The Legal Intelligencer.

The lack of a signed contract and signed secrecy oath have raised questions among OAG staff over whether Kane turning over more than 1 million emails to a special prosecutor, BuckleySandler attorney and former Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler, could violate grand jury secrecy and the Criminal History Record Information Act, sources said. They expressed concern that the emails being reviewed contain confidential investigative information that should not have been released without a formal contract in place.

Gansler said he has not yet signed a formal agreement, but that it doesn't impede his ability to review the emails. He said he has received a hard drive containing every email from OAG servers since late 2008 and is in the process of winnowing the emails for relevance.

Gansler said he is in talks with an outside vendor to narrow the field of emails to those relevant to the investigation. His review could begin next week, he said.

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An analysis of crime and punishment from the perspective of a former prosecutor and current criminal justice practitioner.
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